trig42:nzconan:MileHighKiwi: We ditched Sky 3 months ago and haven't looked back. The only thing I miss is All Blacks games. As much as I love the AB's, $1200 per year is too much for the privilege.
There is always hope ...
"New Zealand Rugby, along with the South African and Australian rugby unions, is involved in negotiations over a new five-year agreement covering the rugby championship, super rugby, international tours and domestic provincial competitions, to replace an existing licensing agreement with Sky that expires at the end of next year."
[url]http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/10509898/Orcon-calls-for-NZRU-to-live-stream-games
There is hope, but not much I fear.
Sky owns all the Broadcasting equipment and cameras etc don't they? If they don't have all the rights to the most valuable sport they have, who will file the games so they can be live streamed?
If the NZRU told Sky they would begin streaming the games, or give someone else streaming rights, Sky stands to lose a huge chunk of subscribers. They use the revenue from subscriptions to pay for their broadcasts, which cannot be cheap.
I also fear that you are right, even though overseas there are supposed to be some very good operating models for this including contracting out the production and then selling a finished product to whomever wants it (be it Sky, Freeview or an streaming provider), our population size and the low (global sports wise) subscription numbers for rugby union will always work against us.
BUT I still live in hope
